Are fat bombs the Holy Grail (or Holy Cow!) of Keto?

There’s an old saying (something to the effect) that if you want to ruin a social gathering, just bring up politics or religion.

Truer words have likely never been spoken.

But I’d add one more controversial topic that can quickly turn an amicable feast into a SWAT call-out, and that’s food. Some people don’t really care WHAT they eat while others can be motivated to stab a family member with a fork if the wrong dietary approach is broached.

All this considered, the ketogenic diet is a controversial topic at best…

And in the other keto corner we have folks who have built a whole religion around avoiding protein, carbs and insulin, all the while recommending consuming enough butter and coconut oil to supply 100 AVN conferences with lubricant.

As is often the case, there’s a lot of nuance between these two extremes.

I do my best to unpack this greasy topic in the video below. (As in: Hey, check out the video below!)

Which camp are you in?

Keto is certain death?

The One True Path to keto enlightenment is a vat of butter and coconut oil?

Or perhaps you recognize that as much as one might wish, there’s not a singular route to any way of eating…

If you’re in the latter camp—you’re interested in keto and prefer to tackle your dietary approaches with a bit of sanity and nuance—check out Keto Masterclass.

Robb Wolf

Robb Wolf, author of The Paleo Solution and Wired to Eat, is a former research biochemist and one of the world’s leading experts in Paleolithic nutrition. Wolf has transformed the lives of tens of thousands of people around the world via his top ranked iTunes podcast and wildly popular seminar series.

Comments

The title of this article is misleading. There is no information in this article about keto fat bombs. This article is just an attempt to get us to sign up for a mailing list. there is no information about fat bombs and they are in the title.

I was diagnosed with Type2 diabetes in May. June first I started on Keto. My sugar dropped 50 points in 2 weeks. I’m Keto for life. I can’t do fat bombs, they stall my weight loss but I’m looking forward to adding them into my regime!

Ketosis isnt a form of ketoacidosis, literally blatantly wrong/lie in your first breath. They both involve ketones but thats about it. If you are an insulin dependant diabetic you do have to be very careful that you use your insulin. Insulin brings down ketones so if you have enough insulin your ketones wont get to high. In order to get into ketoacidosis your ketones would have to be easily twice to three times as high as most people in ketosis AND your blood sugars would have to be terribly high. You didnt say you did keto but its clear you are not willing to do anything to stay healthy since you “nearly died twice”. Ketoacidosis in adults takes a level of non-care, its very rare in type 2s. This person is type two and is clearly on the cusp of not being considering her lower BG, keto can do that for them. Take your trolling misinformation, alarmism elsewhere.

I dont know about you but the keto diet is doing wonders for me. I am down 46 pounds since July 30th but still have a long way to go. My sister is diabetic and also on this diet and I have another sister and niece on it also. Hope it helps you

I’m no doctor or expert, so this is purely anecdotal but the first time I went keto, I did get the keto flu. I took exogenous ketones after feeling like crap for a few days and it seemed to help. I like pizza and beer way too much so I didn’t see it through.

The second time around, which I am currently on, I took exogenous ketones right from the start and suffered no keto flu. I don’t know if it’s directly because of the exogenous ketones or if my body was still “used to” the keto diet.

Anyhow, like I said, I have no empirical evidence to back this up other than my own experience, but it probably can’t hurt to try the ketones.

It took me months to figure out, but in my case getting fat is a little more difficult due to other dietary issues (pork and beef don’t stay down without enzymes so I don’t eat a lot of them ). Every time I plateau it’s because I’m not getting ENOUGH fat. Fat bombs have gotten me through a few plateaus.

Started at 315 pounds…13 months on Keto…down 65+ pounds. No physical activity level change…low activity. I feel great and KETO works!! Check out my Instagram and DM me if you want more info!! Keto_rico

I’ve listened to and enjoyed your podcast for a long time now, and have also read your books, but found this video discouraging. I eat adequate protein and otherwise try to eat lots of non-starchy vegetables (leafy greens, broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, etc.), but pair them, always, with lots of fat – avocado oil, butter, coconut oil, MCT oil, cheese – whatever I’ve got on hand. Is it your advice that this kind of “fat bomb” should be avoided? It’s certainly where I get the most fat in my diet, and I think it’s how I stay in ketosis and avoid the carb cravings that have made me crazy on any diet I’ve tried to follow in the past. My weight/shape is on a downward slope, and I have lots of energy, so I feel this is working. I find the suggestion that the only people who should use lots of fat are those that look like the bodybuilder in the video really difficult to reconcile with my own experience and other sources of information (eg. Peter Attia’s story of self-experimentation, hearing Dom D’Agostino interviewed many times, etc.). This is so difficult to navigate alone (especially without a background in science), so maybe I’m overly sensitive to the feeling of “judgment” coming from the video, but I’m also concerned that if I cut down on the fat, I won’t be able to resist the carbs. I don’t know if other people felt this way after watching. I’m genuinely confused about how to proceed.

Sarah- Re-listen to that video. I said “if you do not look like Clark, OR IF YOU ARE NOT MOVING IN YOUR DESIRED DIRECTION, FAT BOMBS MAY NOT BE YOUR BEST OPTION”

If you are moving in a good direction you are on point. there are many, many people who are gaining weight or have been stalled for ages due to following bad advice.

It’s interesting you bring up Peter Attia and Dom. In Peter’s case he was consuming quite large amounts of fat (and calories overall…north of 4,500cals on his active days). this was to support performance and maintain weight in a high output mode.In dom’s case he frequently recommends a “modified atkins” which is high protein, LC and at best moderate fat. This he recommends for many body composition issues, although he openly acknowledges that there is a lot of individual variability here.

Robb, I don’t know how you do it. I don’t blame you a bit for getting a bit short with people sometimes.

Most people are just terrible at listening; at communicating; at reading comprehension. Nuance and detail are lost on them, and they simply skim and go with their confirmation bias.

And let’s face it, many are just idiots.

People: If it works, great. If it doesn’t work, look critically (and honestly) at what you’re doing and have an open mind. There are myriad variables and no one solution for all people.

Just because it works for somebody else doesn’t mean it will work for you; and just because it works for you doesn’t mean it will work for everyone. How hard is that? We’re still learning about all this. Anybody who asserts (or implies) that they have THE answer is full of crap and arrogance.

I started this journey 40 years ago when the only info was from glossy magazines and stale library books.

I remember the day Time Mag finally came out with a cover about the Low Carb / High Carb debate. Glory be, what a ’20 years too late’ revelation.

I would have paid $10,000 for this information back then. Searched every where and was frustrated because it was easy to tell that most pros were just way wrong and mostly passionate about their egos not the information.

Or… Maybe I should say that those “so-called” egg allergy symptoms (dry skin and hair, diarrhea) are a lot milder. I ate this way for 6 weeks and I bet I’ll be quitting eating eggs again for good unless I’m able to catch wild eggs.

At least in Finland organic and free range eggs are oats/barley/wheat/rapeseed oil -fed. Maybe wild eggs would be the best choice like fish roe 😉

Hey… I’m italian and may have some problems to write in a decent form, but th esense of my message simply is: I perfecly understand what Robb and Nicky say during this video, and find tha it ACTUALLY is about FAT BOMBS and dscussing the argument of fat intake in different cases. So you know what? There’s an italian proverb that says: “non c’è peggior sordo di chi non vuol sentire”, translated would sound something like “there is no worst deaf than who don’t want to hear”… So please stop saying “ehy Robb, the video is not about fat bombs” fighitng your personal war of criticism for something that doesn’t have sense, it doesn’t worth the effort… Your cortisol may suffer from this anger and affect your ketosis causing undesired platoes… Hope to have been quite clear even with my bad english ;-P

I’m in keto for weight loss (also health: joint pain etc). I can see fat bombs (baked goods) for some people to start, maintenance (or high fat burning person), or special occasions. My keto consists of tracking carbs (<=20). My standard keto allowances are max 2T heavy cream, max 2 oz cheese. Eat to satiety (not until full). Eat only when hungry, not peckish or head hunger. I find I am only hungry for 1-2 meals a day. I keep my protein and fat moderate. Since I've cut my fat down, my weight loss has taken off as my body is using my stored fat for fuel. I gave keto a short trial to see if it was for me last fall, a 40-day plan (plateaued) and now have been actively back on keto for several weeks with the modifications above.

I purchased your Keto Master Class several weeks ago, am following the program, measuring and tracking intake, using the Keto Mojo monitor and seeing great results!!! I feel healthy and happy. BTW: Love your humor… keep it coming. How about another interview/podcast with Dr Nasha Winters? How about a series with her? So helpful and interesting. THANK YOU!

Fantastic video guys! I’ve made the mistake of misunderstanding the appropriate use of fat-bombs, e.g. BPC. I lost 35 pounds on a well-formulated ketogenic diet (-20gms carbs, moderate protein, and higher fat)… BUT have plateaued for months now. I believe excessive fat has been the issue.

QUESTION: At 205lbs now I have 40 more pounds to my ideal body weight… Would it be healthy to eat low-carb (e.g. -20 grams of veggies), moderate protein (e.g. .5 to .7 grams per pound lean body mass since I’m not an athlete by any strech) … AND HERE’S MY QUESTION: eat healthy fat, BUT to an overall caloric deficit, thus forcing my body to fill the gap by burning body fat?

I realize that’s probably a stupid question, but it’s been a bit of a forward slapping moment for me… that if I wanted break past this plateau, that I could/should substitute my body fat for some of the dietary fat,m e.g. in my morning coffee?

Thanks for doing this with your wife and kitty. What was the other animal that showed up (the one announced but camera shy?) My question is a about blood sugars. I am trying to get into more fat burning mode (for keeping weight down and regulating blood sugar) – or at least a more flexible metabolism where I can burn fat when I need to and eat some carbs without getting into a feeding frenzy. When I eat carbs only as green vegetables and have maybe one slice of bread, the next morning, my fasting blood sugar is usually over 100 (108 – 115) and though I know this is not a disaster, it is headed in the wrong direction. In time, will the semi keto diet get my blood sugars under 100? (85= my goal) I am wondering if my BG is high when I am burning serious fat and my liver is cranking out sugar to keep my BG up and is not well calibrated. Any help is appreciated. Seems like I can eat a starchy diet with no oil or a low carb diet with liberal olive oil but my BG are higher with LCHF.

Julia! This is a great question (series of questions). I’ve been working on a talk about metabolic flexibility for some time, have given that to low carb breckenridge an will do it at Paleofx. We “should” be able to shift backa nd forth pretty easily between fat and carbs. BUT, many of us have mitochondrial issues due to antibiotics or a host of other inputs that makes low carb or keto a best option. I’m playing with this constantly, always trying to goose my metabolic flexibility. One thought on the blood glucose: If you are not getting enough electrolytes, in particular sodium, you can have elevated BG due to stress. We cover all of this in the keto masterclass: http://www.robbwolf.com/km

Robb,
after finishing the Keto Masterclass I am re-assured at which foods work for me and which do not. Fat bombs are great so long one is carefully keeping track of the macros especially fat content as they can pack a punch, and serving size can be tricky as sometimes these bombs seem small, thus going for a second or third serving can add up. Thanks for the knowledge you are sharing.
Biggest takeaway from the class : Magnesium, Magnesium, Magnesium.

Since I started about 5 months ago, I’ve always taken the approach of dialing my fat up and down based on satiety. People seem to freak out about their macro percentages for that particular day. Even though I consider myself Keto my dietary fat % is usually around 60% for the day. If you layer on the 2 lbs of fat I have been losing per week in that number, my fat macro % would be much higher. Moral of the story, don’t take in unneeded dietary fat when you can burn your own fat.

You’re so right! (as usual) Until I started tracking my macros in Cronometer using the Keto Gains forula (which I learned about from your Keto Masters Class) I had no idea how much I was overconsuming fat! I had a bag of macadamia nuts in the car, one on the counter and one in my office drawyer. I was grazing on them all day long! Once I started tracking, HOLY CRAP!! Reducing fat intake has a been a game changer for my Paleo/Keto/Low Carb lifestyle!

The PALEO SOLUTION

ROBB WOLF, 2x New York Times bestselling author of The Paleo Solution and Wired to Eat, is a former research biochemist and one of the world’s leading experts in Paleolithic nutrition. Wolf has transformed the lives of tens of thousands of people around the world via his top ranked iTunes podcast and wildly popular seminar series.

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